Letter form and guide for the same



Oct. 13, r194.2'. J, N BLISS 2,298,635

LETTER-FORM AND GUIDE FOR THE SAME Filed Feb. 5, 1941 Patented Oct. 13, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEl LETTER FORM AND GUIDE FOR THE SAME John N. Bliss, Peoria, Ill.

Application February 3, 1941, Serial No. 377,077

2 Claims. (Cl. 35-37) This invention pertains to so called stencils or cutout forms for readily and quickly forming letters in sign writing, and to means for supporting and guiding the forms along and above the surface upon which the marking medium is to operate.

One of the objects is to produce a minimum number of forms, in this instance but ve of such forms, so provided as to guide-edges for marking instrument that any character, numeral, or letter of the alphabet, either "upper or lower case may be produced readily even by a novice.

Another object is to furnish a letter or character-form with supporting means by which to space said form above the surface being lettered upon whereby such form may be shifted freely to any location upon said surface clear of the letters or characters being created, especially when using a flowable marking medium applied by a brush, as well as to enable the operator to `arrange words and sentences in various positions Whether in straight or curved lines.

Another object lies in furnishing a letter Aor character form with supporting means for spacing the same above the working surface, such as legs, which may be permanently attached and extended from one side or extended from both sides, or removable for reversed position, so that the letter-form may be turned over or reversed in position in the process of letter-creating for which my letter-forms are particularly adapted.

Still another object is that while providing the spacing supports or legs, to provide a slotted guide into which the legs may be introduced by which lines of letters, words or sentences may be created in straight or curved lines to suit the fancy.

Other advantages will appear in the following specifications aided by the appended drawing forming part hereof wherein:

Figure 1 shows in perspective a letter-form spaced above a working surface together with a guide member likewise spaced above such surface, and the letter-form being shown 'in position for use at said member.

Figure 1a is' an elevation of a letter-form and its guide member both spaced above a working surface.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of a letter-form and a guide member therefor resting upon a working surface showing said form in one position of adjustment in use;

Figure 3 is similar to Figure 2 but wherein the letter-form is shown in another position in creating a letter or character;

Figure 4 illustrates in plan a series of ve cut out letter-forms of my invention together with a guide member shown in the previous gures:

Figures 5 and 6 are similar to Figure 4 wherein, however, certain created letters are outlined in continuous lines to distinguish them from the letter-forms shown in broken lines, and

Figure 7 shows other formed letters as created by the use of certain of the letter-forms previously shown.

In Figures 1, la and 3 a table surface l is shown, for example, supported above which, on legs 2, is a letter-form 1, said legs in this instance extending from both the upper and lower surface y0f said letter-form. These legs, however, may extend from one side only, or the lower side, in order to leave the upper surface free, and they may be removable so that in vreversing the form by turning it over said legs may be reinserted for such reversed position.

Furthermore, since the legs are shiftable through the form the latter may be stationed thereby at any height above said table surface thus giving the operator great latitude of action in working beneath said form with the marking tool.

By drawing upon the working surface any guide line, not shown, a letter-form may follow it and thereby a letter or character may be formed or produced and the'operator may readily guide and adjust the thus supported form as required in forming any such desired character. However, in the figures named a guidemember 4 is provided which may be likewise spaced above the working surface by suitable means such, for example, as a suction cup 5 affixed to said member to engage by suction the said working surface merely to secure the member in fixed position temporarily. Said member is provided with a series of slots lying in line with each other along the length of the same.

While there may be a continuous slot in place of the series the said spaced slots may act to limit the lateral shifting of the letter-form as will be made known later herein.

Naturally, the legs 2 of the form that lie in .the slots 6 rest upon the working surface as do the remaining legs of said form so that the latter will lie parallel with said surface and be entirely stable. Although the guide-member 4 is preferably spaced above the working surface when a brush is used for lettering in order that the marking medium will not be permitted to get beneath the same and ruin the work, said member may lie upon the working surface when other types of tools are used such, for example, as a pencil or chalk.

Figure 4 illustrates the five types of letter-form designated as 1, 8, 9, I and which may be termed templates, and these are shown in position to be controlled by the guide-member in their shifting movement. Although several of the forms may, in rare instance, be used at once with the member I preferably operate with one form at a time to simplify operations.

The form 1 comprises an upright portion 1 and a plurality of extended arms 12 at right angles thereto, while form 8 comprises an upright 3a, an upper and lower right angled extension 8b and 8 respectively. Between and spaced from the last named are spaced-apart oval lobes 8 and 82 extended from said upright 8a.

Form 9 comprises an upright 9', an upper and lower right angled arms 92, 93, respectively, the inner edge of 93 being a curved edge.

Extending from the upright 9 between the arms and spaced therefrom is an extension generally circular in outline and designated at 94.

The form I6 is a more or less solid bodl7 notched to create an upper arm l spaced from a curved edge IG2 and itself curved as at |03, a curved slot |64 partially severing the parts Ill from the part having the edge |62, one of the Walls of the slct being a continuation of said curved edge |82, whereas form has the general form of a capital A but having an edge thereof at substantially 80 to the base line of the form while an edge ||2 opposite thereto lies at an angle of substantially 60 to said base line,

the angles being examples merely, the form also including, preferably, an inner arm extension I3.

These constitute the letter-forms whose use in creating letters may now be briefly explained.

To more readily understand the specific uses of the several forms it may be stated that, quite naturally, the form 1 is used for producing letters of which E, F, H, I, L, T are typical as the so called capitals form, while 8 constitutes the form for capital letters of which B, C, D, G, J, O, P, Q, R, S, U are typical, as well as the figure-characters l, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, and the naught.

The form 9 is employed for a, b, c, d, e, g, j, o, p, q, s, t, u or lower case letters, form 0 for f, h, i, l, In, r and n. On the other hand form produces capitals such as A, K, M, N, V, W, X, Y and Z, both upper and lower case, and the iigures or characters 4 and 1. It is true, however, that some one of the forms may likewise be employed to create certain letters or parts thereof, such employment being suggested to the operator as he becomes familiar with the various form types.

The form 1 naturally suggests such letters as outlined above, comprised of the named upright and horizontal members. In using this form for producing letters E or F the operator will naturally employ the edges I2, |3 and I4 to produce E, giving the outlined letter in continuous lines in figure, but, of course, would not use edge I4 in producing F. Having produced the three horizontal bars of the letter the form 1 is shifted laterally to locate the vertical edge l in proper position to place a vertical stroke along that edge to complete an upright bar of the letter. At this point attention may be drawn to Figures 2 and 3 of the drawing. In Figure 3 the leg 2 of the letter-form abuts the wall of one of the slots G at the left. In this position the marking brush may produce the horizontal parallel bars of the letter E, for example, now, however, this having been done, the form is shifted to the right to abut the leg against the opposite Wall of the slot, or at the right as in Figure 2. This places the edge |5 of the form 1 of Figure 4 in position to permit the vertical brush stroke for the letter E to be made in the proper position to join the horizontal strokes previously placed, completing the letter. Due to limiting the movement of the letter-form at the slot the letters may all be maintained of substantially uniform Width, the operator naturally limiting his brush strokes along the edge of the form to keep Within the letter area, and, of course, in producing the horizontal brush strokes makes them longer or shorter according to the need, and his judgment, in forming any given letter. And it is clear that since the letter-form is spaced well above the Working surface the said surface is readily observable so that every position thereof is seen and the brush can thus be readily placed in proper position to complete a clean Well formed letter.

The letter-form 8 by its configuration for producing the letters above listed for it may be used as in Figure 6 to create letter S by turning it over from the position shown in Figure 4. Thereby the brush is moved toward the left along the upper edge of the upper lobe 8 then around the same to the upper edge of the lower lobe 82, along the same to the right and around it toward the left to complete that letter.

In producing the figure 8 with this form it can be seen that by using one side thereof and then the other this gure can be readily formed as well as of other figures listed for this form by the use of its appropriate curves as they suggest themselves.

Again, the letter-form 9 will permit the forming of letter J partly around the extension S4 against 93 of Figure 5 of the drawing, either capital or small letter, as Well as when reversed, the small letter` a, Figure 6, together with other letters attributed to this said form, it being understood, of course, that, as with other characters having vertical or upright strokes, a letter-form having a straight edge is used to complete the upright stroke thereof.

In Figure 5 also, the letter-form IS serves to create the small letter h and in Figure 6 the small letter r about the edge Ill2 as well as others of the small letters enumerated above for this letter-form.

Finally, the letter-form Figures 4 and 5 serves to create the capital letter A by reversing said form and employing the steepest angle thereof together with the horizontal bar H3 thereof, while in Figure 6 the letter Z is created by rst using such as the letter-form 1 for producing the upper and lower bars of the letter followed by the use of angular edge ||2 of said letter-form at the right of that form as shown in Figure 5 but reversed in position to create the slanting bar of said letter Z as it appears in said Figure 6.

In Figure 7 the letter R is made by using letter-form 9 for the upper loop thereof, together with letter-form to provide the tail of that letter.

And in Figure 7, also b and f are produced by letter-forms 9 and I0, respectively, together with letter form 1, for example, to produce the horizontal bar of said f.

Naturally letters of the small or lower-case type may be either aligned with their bases on the line with the bases of the capitals, or they may be raised from the latter, this with the idea that the letter-forms may be shifted in the direction of letter height to locate the formed characters Where desired.

It is believed to be clear that in forming letters with owable medium upon a surface by means of a brush it is required that the letter-form employed must be spaced from said surface in order that the said medium will in no Way be given a chance to smudge the Work, and, also, so that the operator may the more readily guide the brush during letter forming since he may see the Working surface through and beneath the letter-form.

Also, that by mounting the letter-form on spaced legs the operator is free to guide said form to any position Where a letter is to be created, and may adjust such form in accordance With any particular act in creating any such letter or character.

Further, since providing for spacing the letterforms Well above the Working surface, a sign writers brush charged with the flowable marking medium when drawn along and against any edge of the form the brush is free to spread beneath the form beyond the line of the edge being followed. For this reason the operator may Work quickly and produce a nished J'ob Without fear I claim:

1. Means for use in producing characters on a receiving surface for sign writing purposes by means of a marking tool, including a characterform against Whose edge the marking tool is held in tracing such character, and a plurality of supporting legs extending through said characterform, said legs being adjustable therethrough for locating the form at various distances above said receiving surface.

2. In means for producing characters on a receiving surface for sign Writing purposes by means of a marking tool, the combination with a cut out form for use in producing a character in block form on said surface by following the edges of said form with such tool, and supporting means on said form for spacing the same above the said receiving surface, of a guide member normally xed with respect to said surface, said guide member having a slot therethrough for both receiving and guiding said supporting means, said slot extending in the direction of and substantially paralleling the characters width and being of an extent lengthwise substantially equal to the said Width of said character to be formed together with the added Width of a limb of such character to be formed, said supporting means being slidable with the supported form between the extremes of said slot in producing a of ruining the Work by smudging in any possible 30 character.

Way so far as said form itself is concerned.

JOHN N. BLISS. 

